Huizinga, Johan (yōhän` hoi`zĭngə), 1872–1945, Dutch historian. He began his academic career in Indian literature, but his reputation rests on his work in the cultural history of the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Reformation. Huizinga's classic The Waning of the Middle Ages (tr. 1924) deals with the Low Countries and N France in the 14th and 15th cent. Huizinga considered the Renaissance the death of the Middle Ages rather than the birth of the modern world. Other notable works include Erasmus of Rotterdam (tr. 1954) and essays on the philosophy of history. In World War II he was imprisoned for his opposition to the Nazis.

Huizinga, Johan

(born Dec. 7, 1872, Groningen, Neth.—died Feb. 1, 1945, De Steeg) Dutch historian. He was professor of history at Groningen (1905–15) and then at Leiden until 1942, when he was held as a hostage by the Nazis; he remained under open arrest until his death. His first studies dealt with Indian literature and cultures, but he became internationally recognized for The Waning of the Middle Ages (1919), a lively examination of life in France and Holland in the 14th–15th centuries.